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Was watching a great German tv show where the same families lived in their houses over generations. So basically the parents would live there, raise the kids, the kids would grow up and get married, the parents would give them the house and then they would raise their family, etc.
This is still somewhat common in smaller towns in Europe. I have Danish relatives who have had the same very cool house for generations. I grew up in an urban apartment in Stockholm but if my mom had lived, we would have moved into her mother's house when she passed. This was in our case, a matter of economics. But I find that Americans don't stay put in quite the same way. (Things are definitely changing in Europe too.)
Most people I know who inherited a home from relatives sold it tout suite. I'm curious. Is the "family home' still popular in the US? Maybe in certain regions?
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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I don't know anyone, friend or family that has passed along a home from one generation to the next and then they lived in it. In every case the heirs have sold it, most having their own home already. Thinking about it, my grandparents home on one side had a home in a place where none of us would want to live due to the recent increase in crime. On the other side, my grandparents lost their home to the state for a highway and moved in with my parents until they passed. My parents divorced after 24 years and sold the house to split the proceeds. When my father passed the house was sold and the small amount of equity split among the kids. My mother and stepfather now are at the end of a reverse mortgage and will walk away, renting in a senior facility. Any family member could buy it for what they have gotten from the bank, but we all have homes and it's way too far out.
I don't know anyone, friend or family that has passed along a home from one generation to the next and then they lived in it. In every case the heirs have sold it, most having their own home already. Thinking about it, my grandparents home on one side had a home in a place where none of us would want to live due to the recent increase in crime. On the other side, my grandparents lost their home to the state for a highway and moved in with my parents until they passed. My parents divorced after 24 years and sold the house to split the proceeds. When my father passed the house was sold and the small amount of equity split among the kids. My mother and stepfather now are at the end of a reverse mortgage and will walk away, renting in a senior facility. Any family member could buy it for what they have gotten from the bank, but we all have homes and it's way too far out.
Yes I don't know anyone in the US who has lived in a house they inherited. We have a friend who is a a perpetual couch surfer. I'm sure if he inherits a house he.will live in it because he has nowhere to go. But as he doesn't want to do any maintenance he will probably sell it in short order and use the money to move into an apartment.
I think it's more common for family farms, or special properties like beach homes or ski cabins.
We have a beach house still in the family that was my grandparent's special home where we had all our major family gatherings. My brother lives there now.
It's not common any more at all, not even with children of immigrants. Some cultures do feel the responsibility to care for the elderly and live with them, but they become Americanized and eventually forget it in the USA. You may find it more in high cost ares is people want to stay close to their families. I do know one person who lives next to his father and lives in a two story house above his father in law but that's because he married the girl next door. My grandparents lived with my aunt and uncle until they passed away. I would certainly welcome my father who is a widower to come live with me if he needed to or wanted to, even though it would drive me crazy. It's probably more common where hillbillies live where there are few opportunities.
I think it's more common for family farms, or special properties like beach homes or ski cabins.
I agree. I know of a number of farms which have been in the same family for over 100 years. In my own family, we have a vacation cottage which has been in the family for three generations, going on four.
I know a number of people who live in their deceased parents' house. It's not uncommon in areas with high housing costs, as the parents often bought a house that the children could not afford to buy today. Given a choice between selling mom's (small, but well cared for) house and buying a bigger one far out of the city for the same price, versus moving into mom's house close to the city center, a lot of people I know are deciding to move into mom's house. Of course, it's a specific set of circumstances that lead to this, but it's not that unusual amongst my acquaintances in the Boston and Dallas areas.
A shockingly high percentage of America's extant residential housing-stock was built in the 1950s and 1960s. Those houses are often too new to witness inter-generational transfer. But I have seen this on occasion in the Midwest, where locals remain rooted and there's a strongly cohesive sense of tribal belonging. My expectation is to see considerably more of this, as houses age.
One example is a neighbor of mine. The house was occupied by its prior resident since 1960. Said resident was already elderly when I moved in, and finally passed away some half-dozen years ago. One of her daughters now lives there. The daughter herself is a grandmother now, and I'd be surprised if in due-time the next generation doesn't take over.
I've known a couple of people who ended up living in a house they inherited from parents. This was on Long Island, NY, where housing prices are pretty high and some people were priced out of buying anything on their own. Although in both of the cases I am thinking, the house needed a lot of updates so it wasn't exactly a free ride.
But most of the time, it's the parents who have ended up selling "the family home" before they died, and moved into something smaller, or relocated to Florida or Arizona or another area that attracts lots of retirees.
I find it sad that we in USA don't preserve our roots and we move around so much that no neighborhood is ours. It is nice when I visit other countries in EAST where family home has been in family or generations. But at same time I also know of lot of family fight that takes place to retain that family home & lots of animosity because of that inheritance. Seeing the family drama makes me appreciate our culture of not counting on inheritance & whatever you get is extra
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